Document-cabinet.



PATENTED SEPT. 29, 1903;

R-. K. DAVIS. DOCUMENT CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13,1902.

N0 MODEL.

Inven tor:

mz-nhnms PETERS cof, wmoun-xon WASHJNGTON. 6. c.

Fatented September 29, 1903:

PATENT RONELL" K. DAVIS, OFDE SPA'l-OH, NEW YORK.

.0000 M E-NJTI-CAIBINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 740,098, dated September 29, 1903. Application filed November is. 1902. semi rt. 131,200. (No model.)

To all whom itmay concern.-

Be it known that I, RONELL K. DAVIS, of Despatch, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Document- Cabinets, which improvement is fullyset forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying dra'wingsl My invention is in general an inclosing case or cabinet for conveniently holding paper blanks or forms-such as law blanks, postoffice blanks, sheet music, pads, or other documents, and similar articlesall of which being distinctly separated and divided and ready at hand.

The main object of this invention is to provide an inclosing case and drawer within it of novel construction for holding paper blanks and forms, a number of the caseswith contained drawers beingusually. placed in Vertical series and inclosed in cabinet form.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out and made to appear in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

forming a part thereof, the invention being particularly pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 is aplan of an inclosing case and contained drawer with its contents, parts broken away to disclose the interior. Fig. 2 is a front end view of the device seen as indicated by arrow 2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of parts, taken on the dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 1, parts being shown in various positions by full and dotted lines. Fig. 4 shows in vertical longitudinal section the drawer detached, the section being as on the dotted line 4 4 in Fig. 1, parts being shown in various positions by full and by dotted lines. Fig. 5 is a front View of the inclosing casewith the door opened or turned up to show the parts within. Fig. 6, drawn to a smaller scale, shows a number of the inclosing cases assembled in vertical series and inclosed in cabinet form. Fig. '7, drawn to an enlarged scale, better shows the construction of the parts at the rear of the drawer, the back board and the bottom board of the drawer being in vertical section.

A in the drawings is a rectangular or box shaped inclosing case, preferably of wood, for holding withing it the drawer 13. When used singly, this case is provided with atight cover a and bottom board I) to make the inclosure complete; but if two or more cases are associated, as shown in Fig. 6, the bottom board 19 of one case may, as a matter of convenience.

and economy, take the place of the top or cover a of the one beneath it. In case both cover and bottom board be employed, as when an inclosing case and its contents are used singly, the only opening of the case is at c, Fig. 5, in front of the inclosed drawer. This opening is normally closed by a vertical swinging or pendent door or closer d, Figs. 2, 3, and 5, held at its upper edge to thejinclosing case by hinges e and controlled by gravity, as shown.

The drawer B, which is normally wholly inclosed in the case A, is open both at the top and at the front, the vertical sides ff being slanted or curved at g at their forward ends adjacent to the door, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

A pull-knob'or handle it is secured to the Y floor t' of the drawer for operating the latter, said handle passing out under the lower edge of the door (1 and projecting in front thereof, as shown. The drawer holds within it a removable folio C for receiving and holding blanks or other sheets or documents Z, above enumerated,in its horizontal recesses or chambers k, Figs. at and 5, in flat horizontal piles, as shown. This folio 0 comprises a bottom part or base-board m, usually of pasteboard, of a size to substantially cover the floor of the drawer. The boardm holds at its rear or inner end a seriesof transverse thick bars n 010, Figs. 4 and 7, secured rigidly toeach other and to the base m. These bars decrease in width from the bottom upward, their forward edges retreating and their rear edges being in avertical plane and normally touching the rear board 1' of the drawer. The drawers B are sometimes and for some purposes made broad and divided by longitudinal partitions into apartments for receiving two or more folios 0 side by side, this'being merely a matter of convenience or adaptation to particular use in any given case. With each bar is a thick sheet 8, of pasteboard or other suitable material, connected with its bar in a hinge or flexible joint, preferably by means of a strip i, Figs. 1 and 7, of flexible material, as stout fabric or oil-cloth. The

cardboard sheet constituting a tilting cover for the blank forms or sheets of paper beneath it. These tilting covers are of the same length from front to rear, on account of which their front edges (and also the chambers 7r) recede from low to high, as shown in Fig. 4, corresponding with the recession of the front edges of the bars n 0 p, above described. This recession of the coverssand of the open front of the drawer renders all the paper sheets down to the lowest easily acessible and in convenient reach. The forward projecting ends of the covers 8 are usually provided with sheetmetal label-holders Q7, Figs. 1, 4, and 5, for receiving slips of paper or labels y for displaying the titles of the particular blanks immediately beneath each cover. The forward ends of these covers are also preferably notched or cut back at one side, as at ac, Fig. 1, to in part uncover the heads of the blanks beneath as a further means for enabling the eye to quickly perceive the nature of the .blanks in the different apartments beneath the respective covers. These covers 3 are also further provided with loops w of fibrous or pliable material in positions to be seized by the thumb and finger for raising the cover for the purpose of extracting a paper as may be required.

The handle h for operating the drawer may be of any material and of any form desired, save that its surface turned inward or toward the door d is of such form as to smoothly act against the door at its outside lower surface. \Vhen the drawer is pulled outward, the rounded edges 9 of its sides f press the inner surface of the door d and swing it outward, the door being finally raised to the elevated position (shown by dotted lines at d in Fig. 3) when riding or resting upon the straight surfaces a of the sides f. The drawer being thus drawn out, the folio is brought into full view and its contents readily accessible. \Vhen the drawer is subsequently pressed inward to close it, the door, acting from gravity, will commence to descend or swing downward as soon as the declining parts 9 g of the sides of the drawer present themselves beneath it, and as the drawer is moved farther inward the door will continue to swing downward, following along the inclines g g, with its lower edge coming in front of the handle h, as shown by dotted lines at d*, Fig; 3. The final pressing home of the drawer will cause the handle to fully close the door into-the opening 0, and so hold it in its closed position. Each inelosing case A, with its contained drawer B and inner folio O, is a complete working device by itself and may be used singly where but few different papers are required in a given business; but usually several of these cases are assembled, as shown in Fig. 6, and inclosed in an outer casing or cabinet D-as, for instance, when in use at post-offices; for which this invention was originally designed.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. A document-cabinet comprising an inclosing case, a drawer within the case, a folio in the drawer having a base, a series of crossbars rigidly secured to each other and to the base and of different widths, and a series of covers of equal length secured to the upper front corners of the respective bars by flexible joints to swingupward from a normal horizontal position, substantially as described.

2. In a document-cabinet, a drawer having Vertical sides curved at their forward ends, a floor to said drawer, a base substantially of the same size as said floor, a series of transverse bars supported one above the other at the rear end of said base, and rigidly secured to each other and to the base and decreasing in width from the bottom upward, a cover connected to each bar by a flexible joint, said covers being of substantially the same length and each provided at its forward end with a loop of flexible material, said bars having their rear edges in vertical plane and normally in contact with the rear board of the drawer, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 10th day of November, 1902, in. the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RONELL K. DAVIS.

lVitnesses:

Enos B. WHITMORE, MINNIE SMITH. 

